One Tea Pairing
by StVincent
Summary: Yang's concerned that her partner's running herself ragged again, so she takes it upon herself to bring Blake a tea break in the library.


Blake was hunched over a manuscript in the deep recesses of the library when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up in time to see Yang hide her hands behind her back.

Yang forced an expression of nonchalance across her face as she sat down across from Blake. "Hey! Busy?" she asked in a stage whisper.

One dark brow rose incredulously. The stacks of books and scattered paper across the table were hardly for show.

"Of course you are!" Yang answered her own question. "But you've been busy all week, and you look like you could use a break, so I brought you some tea." She set down a water bottle and a pair of rose-patterned tea cups. "If you don't mind, I thought I'd join you?" Yang asked, pulling out some foil-wrapped tea bags from her belt pouch.

"I'd love some company."

Yang divided the water between the two cups and gently heated one to steaming in her hands. "Portable microwave!" she beamed as she carefully extracted an elaborate tea bag and plopped it in the cup before sliding it across the table to Blake.

"Oh my god, it's _goldfish_ shaped!" Blake gasped as she stared at the steeping tea bag in front of her. "It's _adorable_!" Blowing gently across the rim of the cup, she got the diaphanous fins to flutter in the water.

"Not as adorable as you..."

The words were whispered, but Blake heard them quite plainly. She forced herself not to snap her head up in surprise. Instead, she continued gazing at the teacup as the tendrils of red-orange mingled with the clear water, and tried not to be distracted by the slight stirring of the bag string as the air currents in the library eddied around the table. "So... why the sudden tea time, Yang?" she asked quietly.

"You—well, you've had a long week and looked like you could really use a hug, but you don't like being touched so I didn't want to hug you, but I know you like tea and then Ruby found these super cute fish tea bags that I thought you'd appreciate, but you're not actually a _cat_ so I wasn't entirely sure if you _would_ appreciate them..."

Blake intervened before Yang could ramble herself breathless. "Thank you. I _do_ appreciate them."

Yang looked like she was trying to formulate a response when her Scroll flashed silently on the table. "Oh, the steeping should be done!"

Blake dangled the tea bag above the cup, watching the drips slow before giving it a squeeze. With a swift movement, she popped the bag in her mouth and sucked out the bitter remnants of the liquor. A sound from across the table drew her attention and she looked up in time to see Yang bury her face in her hands. "What?"

Yang peeked out from between her fingers and succumbed to a fit of giggles. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and batted at the string still dangling from Blake's lips. "Oh my god. You look like a cat that's caught a—"

Blake immediately removed the tea bag and deposited it on the wrapper as she blushed. "Don't say it!"

Through a herculean effort, Yang kept her mouth shut, but she couldn't keep her lips from quirking into a smirk.

Blake dropped her eyes to her teacup and took a deep whiff of the fruity aroma. It smelled heavenly, and her first tentative sip confirmed it: this was delicious. Glancing over, it seemed like Yang thought much the same. "I didn't think you were much of a tea-drinker."

"I'm not usually, but this is nice. I could get used to it."

Leaning forward a little, Blake examined the cup in Yang's hands. The brew color was a dark yellow and it smelled creamier than her own. "Is that a different flavor?"

Yang nodded as she sipped at her tea, keenly aware of Blake's eyes following the cup to her lips. "This one is 'Jin Xuan oolong.' Yours is 'Champagne oolong.'"

Blake furrowed her brow at the names. "Does the 'jin' have something to do with the golden color? The Japanese for 'gold' sounds quite similar."

"Yeah, the name translates to 'golden daylily,' actually."

"It matches you." Blake grinned as she compared the color of Yang's tea to her blond hair, but twitched in surprise as her partner spluttered mid-sip.

"And your tea's alsocalledorientalbeauty," Yang finished her statement in a rush and hurried to hide her face behind her cup.

Blake blinked as she attempted to parse the words. "Oriental beauty?" she echoed unthinkingly before she blushed at the implications. "C-can I try some of yours?" she asked, desperate to change the subject. "You should try some of mine, too."

They exchanged cups silently, too shy to make eye contact, but they both jumped at the spark when their hands touched.

"Mmm, I like them both, but yours is sweeter. I like it better!" Yang exclaimed as she tried the Champagne oolong.

Blake savored the scent wafting from the cup of Jin Xuan before taking a deep sip. She preferred her tea without adornment, but it seemed that this oolong had a natural milky flavor that gave it a beautifully rounded taste. "I think I like this flavor better, too," she murmured. "Maybe we _shouldn't_ trade back?"

Yang nodded in agreement as she studiously avoided looking at Blake. "This is really good. I didn't know I liked tea this much."

"Well, there's a new tea house downtown I've been meaning to visit." Blake took a deep breath. "Perhaps you'd like to... accompany me?"

"I'd love to!" Yang's smile lit up her face. "And how about a seafood dinner afterwards, and make it a proper date night?"

Blake affirmed with a grin.

"So it's of _fish_ al that we're dating?"

The grin slipped from Blake's face. "Yang..."

"I just seized the oppor _tuna_ ty!"

"Yang!"

"What, you don't like it when I _teas_ you?" Yang dangled a goldfish tea bag in front of Blake.

"If you drip on the books, I'm retracting my offer!"

Panic flashed across lilac eyes as Yang caught the tea bag with her other hand, hedging her bets with her semblance. But she miscalculated the heat.

Blake let out a startled hiss as the tea bag burst into flame. "Don't you _dare_ set the library on fire!"

"Oops?" Yang gave Blake her best sheepish look as she tried to fan away the cloud of smoke that formed.

"I think I should pack up and call it a night," Blake sighed in resignation as she warily eyed the smoke detectors in the library ceiling. "And remind me to introduce you to lapsang souchong tea."

Yang helped move some stacks of books to the reshelving carts. "Sorry about the fire?" she offered as Blake collected her things.

"It's okay—nothing was damaged and the alarms probably won't go off." Blake shrugged as she shouldered her backpack, but swayed dangerously as she finally stood.

"Blake!"

"I'm fine," she insisted as she closed her eyes and tried to clear the fog from her vision. "Just a little tired."

"Blake..."

"I'd prefer to skip the lecture if it's all the same to you," she interrupted with a growl.

Yang held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Just wondering if you want me to carry that for you?"

Fighting her independent streak, Blake stopped herself from shouting a knee-jerk "No!" As much as she knew she could handle herself just fine, her shoulders were a tense mess and the crick in her neck did not bode well. She let herself smile at Yang's concern and reluctantly slipped off one of the backpack straps.

Yang paused, as if waiting for explicit permission, then stepped forward to take the bag. Her fingers brushed Blake's shoulder, the contact lingering longer than either expected, yet shorter than they'd hoped.

"Thanks," Blake murmured as the warmth of Yang's hand finally lifted away, along with the weight of the bag.

Yang flashed a broad grin. "No problem!"

Blake straightened up, grimacing as her spine popped. "I think I need a nap."

"A _cat_ nap?"

Blake didn't deign Yang with an answer as she marched out of the library, but the patter of footsteps caught up with her.

"I'm sorry!"

Blake merely snorted.

"Fine, I'm only _mostly_ sorry," Yang amended. "But you look like you're going to keel over any second now, and I'd rather not plan a date night with you in the infirmary." She wrapped an arm around Blake to steady her. "I'll get you back to the room without any head injuries, okay?"

Blake nodded sleepily and adjusted her gait to lean into Yang. "This is nice." She snuggled in closer. "I could get used to it."

"So could I," Yang whispered into violet-lined cat ears as she hugged Blake tighter. "So could I."

* * *

 **Omake:**

Blake took one last look at the webpage pulled up on her Scroll before she put it away in her bag. "The tea comes in four flavors, but you only brought two over. Did you not get the variety pack?" "Well, I gave the others to Ruby..."

* * *

Ruby heard the dainty click of heels as her partner entered the room. "Weiss, you gotta try this tea! It's got a little bit of cinnamon and mint—I think you'll like it!"

Weiss took a hesitant sip, and then a second one at a more leisurely pace. "It's delicious. What flavor is it?"

"Uh..." The lack of response seemed perplexing. "That shouldn't be difficult to answer. Let me see the packaging." Weiss glanced around for the tea bag wrapper before spotting it on the desk. " _Ruby_ black tea?" Her eyes drifted to an unopened bag. "Rose oolong..."

They looked up in startlement as the door opened suddenly.

"Why are both of you blushing?" Yang asked as she steered a yawning Blake into the room.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

(There are actual links to the referenced fic/series/MonCon/tea in my original post on AO3, but FFN strips them out.) This is mostly an apology for all the angst I've put Blake (and Yang) through in _Drowning Is a Quiet Affair_ (and the on-going series _Hypoxia_ ). Blake really, really needs a hug after all that, so the July 2016 MonCon theme of "favorite character" and "fluff" was a pretty good excuse to crank this one-shot out.

The teas are actual products by CHARMVILLA. The flavor names and descriptions are taken _directly_ from official translations/posts by the company.

Also, Yang wanted to title the fic, " _Putting the 'Tea' in OTP_ ," but Blake made her change it.


End file.
